No, that's just alternative dns. Fidonet had most of what the internet has, other than speed and the web -- file repositories, email, newsgroups -- but it was all done privately. My node would call a higher node in the middle of the night and exchange files, mail, etc. Sometimes it was a little funky, like when someone up the line was too broke to make the long distance calls every night so the mail got stuck there, but generally it was pretty efficient. For privacy seeking groups, however, it certainly still has an application, with modifications to incorporate crypto. If packet radio were used, it could be totally anonymous, modeled after mixmaster, with key authentication, but pretty much untraceable, especially with burst broadcasting technology. "!Dr. Joe Baptista" wrote:
On Wed, 18 Oct 2000, Harmon Seaver wrote:
jim bell wrote:
I'll stake my claim right here. Very shortly after Algore called the Internet the "Information Superhighway", I called FIDOnet "the Information Jeep-Trail."
I had a fidonet node for awhile. The concept really needs to be revived -- and combined with more recent developments like Publius, freenet, and gnutella. Sort of an underground internet -- the Information Subway. Just remember I coined that one and it's copylefted.
in a way it already has - http://www.dot-god.com/ and http://www.open-rsc.org/
-- Harmon Seaver, MLIS Systems Librarian Arrowhead Library System Virginia, MN (218) 741-3840 hseaver@arrowhead.lib.mn.us http://harmon.arrowhead.lib.mn.us